Simon Hicks

As expected, a full page article about the project featured in the latest BIAZA Magazine (attached). This has raised some interest in the zoo community, and I have been approached by the new Conservation Officer at London Zoo who is grappling with the distinction between 'zoo' and 'field' conservation.

I had an excellent first meeting with Annette Lanjouw, the new Director at FFI responsible for initiatives such as this. She was very interested in the concept of building a relationship with zoos and I am hopeful that there will be proactive input from this international conservation NGO.

Through my FFI meeting I was introduced to the new Director of the FFI Eurasia region, Paul Hotham, who expressed the need for help to put in place a conservation programme for the critically endangered saiga. I have spoken with the Director of BIAZA who put me in touch with the chair of the Taxon Advisory Committee for antelope, EAZA, who has introduced me to a contact at Rotterdam zoo. This counterpart opportunity is now beginning to look promising. Needless to say, I make it clear to all contacts that this is a Rufford sponsored project.

The draft report from my survey of conservation in UK zoos last year, has been seen by FFI and is now my top priority. Its completion has been somewhat delayed by my relocation to the Democratic Republic of Congo. I shall forward a copy to you as soon as it is complete, with another to Oryx in the hope that a version can be published.

I have established a contact at Howletts and Port Lympne zoos with a view to discussing the potential of a welfare/conservation project for the black maned lions in Addis Ababa. I will be taking this to the next stage on my return visit to the UK in May.

Finally, I am now based in Lubumbashi, DR Congo, close to the Zambian border. The town includes a pitiful zoo, but within extensive grounds which have the potential for a holding and rehabilitation area for confiscated wildlife, if the need exists. We are therefore planning visits to two of the nearest national parks, which are gradually being recovered from rebel forces by the national parks authority, in order to establish their needs. This would of course provide an exciting opportunity for the Zoo Counterpart Initiative.

Read the latest news on this project below.

Read about an inquiry conducted by Simon DJ Hicks of Conservation Works (UK charity No. No.1106986) into the 'Collection of eight pairs of lions in the municipal zoo, Addis Ababa' on 7th to the 14th November 2006.

I have just presented a paper to the annual conference of the Pan African Association of Zoos, Aquariums and Botanic Gardens, on the Zoo Counterpart Initiative and survey of UK zoos, funded by the Rufford Small Grants Foundation. Below is the (much reduced) paper which will be published in a PAZAAB document of conference business (without the power point slides).

There was considerable interest in different issues raised by the paper, which seemed to provide considerable food for thought. A senior executive from the Aquarium in Durban asked me no less than three times "so what can we do to feel good about being a zoo, Simon?" I would like to help her, and other member zoos in Africa, to find the answer and I am talking to the CEO and Chairman of PAZAAB about possible ways forward.

Meanwhile Twycross Zoo is funding a quarantine for our chimp refuge located in the grounds of Lubumbashi Zoo, with further support from Zoo St Martin Le Plaine in France. This is a critical component of our strategy to stop the traffic of protected wildlife through this province. I also hope to be recruiting zoo support for the restocking of our national parks in Katanga, starting with Kunderlungu. Although not always explicitly the Zoo Counterpart Initiative, progress to mobilise zoos in overseas conservation remains steady.

I have been facilitating a dialogue between FFI and the Taxon Advisory Group (TAG) for antelope, of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) regarding the possibility of working together to save the Saiga, a dreadfully depleted species of antelope on the steppes of Eurasia. This could become the cross-sector pilot project, intended as the next stage to follow the zoo survey in my original Zoo Counterpart Initiative proposal. In two weeks, my two potential collaborators and I will be meeting for the first time, after weeks of e-dialogue, at Woburn. Richard Allcorn, for the international conservation sector, will be presenting FFI's Steppe Programme to the zoo sector, represented by the EAZA antelope TAG, most specifically Angela Glatston from Rotterdam Zoo, elected by the TAG to find ways for zoos to help the Saiga. This presentation and rendezvous, indeed the coming together of the two conservation sectors, is a direct outcome of the this grant, initiated and facilitated by your grantee!